Tories playing politics on Charter anniversary: Trudeau

Three decades after then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms into law, his lawmaker son says the majority Conservatives are now ignoring the document in a blatant act of partisan politics.

"It's just typical. It shows that we have a government that can't get beyond its partisan ideology and its grounding," federal Liberal Member of Parliament Justin Trudeau told CTV's Question Period.

"The Conservatives are supposed to be about protecting individuals from an intrusive state, so you would think they'd like the Charter."

While numerous organizations intend to mark the anniversary, many have noticed the government is taking a much more low-key approach.

Suggesting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives "ignored" the 25th anniversary of the Charter in 2007, Trudeau said they appear to be bent on doing the same when the 30th anniversary rolls around on April 17.

Trudeau suggested the Conservatives cannot even agree on which department within the Conservatives should craft a press release.

"It's the Charter. It is the basis of our modern state; our modern society. You cannot go around it and unfortunately they are trying to minimize it," Trudeau said.

Justin Trudeau was just a boy when the elder Pierre Trudeau signed the Charter, along with Queen Elizabeth II, guaranteeing certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil rights in Canada.

The Charter followed the Canadian Bill of Rights which was enacted in 1960.